I keep reading about these fabulous tart cherries all my fellow preservers keep talking about so as I posted earlier I busted on down to the Rogue Valley Growers Market and bought me some tart cherries or pie cherries as the seller called them.
The tart cherries were smaller and reminded me more of red grapes then the big, black bing cherries I am used to. And they were not cheap and I can be pretty miserly!
After agonizing for half a day about what to do with my find, pie or jam or savory compote or pie or preserves...ADD brain...oh look a squirrel. I finalized my plans. Sour Cherry Jam from one of my first canning cookbooks Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round by Marisa McClellan.
So while my prednisone hopped up 3 year old was running circles around the kitchen, another story for another time, I pitted the cherries by hand. It wasn't hard but time consuming. I have a cherry pitter but these I just did by hand while watching Pawn Stars.
After taking a break to do some dishes and help get the monkey to bed I finally was ready to jam. Pretty easy recipe except cherries always foam up on me. I hate the look if foam in the jar but it is too friggin time consuming to sit there and try to get it all out but I can't bring myself to use butter because it just seems wrong.
I cut the recipe down and ended up with 3 half pints and enough left over for a 4oz jar but I was out of those so I popped it in the fridge. The little snippets I tasted were amazing and different from the cherry recipes I have done previously. Can't wait to try it with some Greek yogurt!
Tart Cherry Jam
Marisa McClennan's Food In Jars
Ingredients
- 4 pounds of pitted and mashed sour cherries, which should yield about six cups of jammable fruit
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 packet liquid pectin (that's half a box)
Instructions
- Put three pint jars or six half pints (or some combintion thereof) in your canning pot and bring to a boil.
- Combine fruit and sugar in a heavy, non-reactive pot. Bring to a boil and let bubble for a good twenty minutes, occasionally skimming the foam from the surface of the fruit as it develops. Add the pectin and boil for another five minutes. You want to cook it until it looks like boiling sugar - thick and viscous.
- Kill the heat, fill your jars, wipe rims, apply the lids and rings and process in the hot water bath for 10 minutes. Remove jars from water and let cool on the countertop. When the jars are cool (I typically wait until overnight), remove the rings and test the seal by picking the jar up by the lid. If it stays put, your jars are good to store indefinitely.
- I love the flavor of sour cherries, so I didn't add a drop of extra flavor to this jam. However, you are welcome to spice things up with cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, vanilla or orange (or anything else).
